Power fades as Cannons fire

By Marc McGowan
GIPPSLAND has covered its representative stars’ absences brilliantly over the past month as it surged up the TAC Cup under-18 ladder.
But the Power was crying out for key forward John Butcher, in particular, against the Calder Cannons at Coburg City Oval on Sunday.
The Cannons boasted bullocking talls Serhat Temel and Luke Mitchell in attack, while Gippsland instead relied on 180cm forward Jed Lamb. Lamb performed admirably with four goals, but Temel and Mitchell were nothing short of outstanding.
The twin towers combined for nine majors and 11 contested marks as Calder scored a come-from-behind 17-point victory.
Nick Sing, Jordan Dessent and Dean Woodhead all tried and failed to quell the pair.
But Power coach Damian Carroll did praise medium-sized defender Lachlan Todd’s shutdown job on in-form Cannons’ goal-sneak Jacob Thompson.
Gippsland finished with eight more inside-50s than Calder.
The Power started with the wind, but did little to separate itself from the hosts as it entered the second term with just a six-point break.
Tim Northe goaled from an early free kick to extend the buffer to 13 and Lamb cancelled out Temel’s response with another, but the Cannons’ inevitable charge soon followed.
Calder began to dominate out of the centre and booted three straight goals, including one following a horrendous kicking error out of defence from Sing.
Nicholas Pincott kicked a remarkable goal under duress to tie the scores late in the quarter, but Steve McCallum gave his team the lead right on half-time.
Gippsland had a couple of early chances to hit the scoreboard in the second half, only for Ryan Tatterson to overrun the ball and Darcy Thorpe to kick one out-on-the-full.
Temel booted the term’s opening major after drifting across a pack to mark Mitchell’s wayward goal-kicking attempt.
Northe hit back with one of his own, but two more goals to the Cannons suddenly blew the margin out to 18. Some excellent forward pressure resulted in a major to Pincott and Lamb snapped one just before the final break to give the Power some hope.
Carroll bemoaned his players’ inability to nullify Temel and Mitchell, but was pleased with their effort. “At the end of the day we had our chances to win it – but Calder had guys who could mark inside 50 and we probably just couldn’t stop them,” he said. “They did have a real crack and worked hard all day – you couldn’t question their commitment or attack on the ball and defensive pursuits with tackles and pressure. Hopefully we can play that sort of game again next week to at least give us a chance.”
Gippsland takes on Sandringham at Morwell on Saturday at 1pm.